Dolly Parton Reveals the Only Reason She'd Be Seen in Public with No Makeup: 'Death!' (Exclusive)

"You'd just have to see me laid out on a stretcher," Parton tells PEOPLE in this week's issue

Dolly Parton has always known how to put together an eye-catching look.

The country superstar chronicles her journey through fashion, hair and makeup in the new book Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, out Oct. 17 via Ten Speed Press, which she describes in this week's issue of PEOPLE as "a museum of my life."

"The older I get, the more I think, 'Well, people really want to know about how you become who you are once you kind of reach a certain status,'" the 77-year-old singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE of the book, written with Holly George-Warren and curated by Parton's niece, Rebecca Seaver. "So, I thought, 'Why don't I do [a book] about my clothes, my fashion, my hair and all the looks that I've had — good, bad and indifferent?'"

Related: Dolly Parton Reveals She Was 'Whipped' by Grandfather over Her Appearance

Growing up poor in Eastern Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, Parton didn't always have access to the high-end beauty products she could get her hands on today, but that didn't matter.

"I'd find ways to create my own makeup with pokeberries and stuff that grew wild in the fields. I think all people that grow up in the mountains learn how to improvise with what you don't have," she says. "I would strike Mama's old kitchen matches to make eyebrows and my beauty mark. Still, I find myself mixing and matching different makeups for different colors."

Parton continued to utilize her thriftiness as she started singing on radio and television programs as a kid, sporting homemade outfits for the appearances before she started making enough money to shop. Since her career really took off in the '60s, she's been able to purchase "every great line of makeup that's ever come out." However, she still prefers to stick to a few inexpensive, tried-and-true brands.

Related: Dolly Parton Channels Her Inner 'Rockstar' on New Album — See the Iconic Track List!

"Maybelline was always a biggie, especially with eye makeup. I didn't have to burn the matches anymore," she says with a laugh, naming a few of her other favorite accessible products: Oil of Olay, Pond's Cold Cream and Max Factor's True Beige shade.

"There's so many of the products that don't cost a fortune that are just as good as the most expensive things you buy," declares the Grammy winner, "and believe me, I know, because I am about makeup."

These days, Parton's nearly synonymous with over-the-top fashion and beauty looks. The "Jolene" musician never steps out without high heels and a full face of makeup, and she'd like to keep it that way. In fact, she says there's only one way she'd ever be seen publicly with a bare face: "Death!"

Related: Dolly Parton and Carl Thomas Dean's Relationship in Pictures

"You'd just have to see me laid out on a stretcher," jokes Parton, before offering up a more serious scenario: "No, if my husband [Carl Thomas Dean] was sick, or if there was an emergency, of course, I would [leave the house without makeup]."

Of course, there are a few other situations she could find herself in without control over how she looks — though it's hard to believe Parton would end up there.

"If I got arrested for a bad tag or whatever, I don't want a mugshot looking like some of the stars I've seen," she says. "I'm going to clean up a little if I'm going outside, unless there's an absolute emergency, and it would have to be pretty serious. I would do it then, but that would be the only way."

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